Nice Life: 1000 Wins and a Dear Wife

Coach A and his wife, Mary Kay.

  Coach Rick Adelman has been beleaguered like the rest of his Timberwolves team this unfortunate basketball season of 2012-13, missing time early in 2013 while attending to his wife Mary Kay, who has been having medical problems, namely mysterious seizures. I have a brother, Tony, who has been dealing with a similar issue with random seizures for a number of years now, and let me say it's been no picnic--not for my brother, most of all, but not for his family, either.
  So it was gratifying to see the Wolves pull out a hard-fought 107-101 win on April 6, 2013, against the plucky (on this night, anyway) Detroit Pistons to give Coach Adelman his 1,000th career win, a milestone that puts him in rarified air with only seven other coaches at this point in NBA history. I've long been a fan of Adelman's court savvy, team management, and consistently level-headed approach to dealing with NBA seasons and players and fans. He's no-nonsense, but he seems to have levity, too.
  Another thing about him I like is the way he seems to cherish his wife. Lots of sports dorks like to pretend they're infallible, that nothing or no one can get in the way of that quest for the championship. But when Mary Kay went down with her health problems earlier in the season, Coach A was obviously stricken. He took time off from coaching right in the middle of the season, he and spent the time he and she needed and more to be with the person that matters most to him, to a person who's been loyal to him through the rigors and crazy travels and schedules of countless NBA seasons. And then, when it seemed she was well enough, he came back to coach this lost team in this lost season. I respect him for that, too.
  I'd be remiss if I didn't pay homage to my own lovely wife here at the end of a seemingly impossibly long and cold winter. Nicole's a person I simply love to be with, love to talk to, can't do without. To her from me, a thousand kisses.